longhorn legend
UT Austin student wins Jeopardy! college championship and scores $250,000 grand prize
KVUE — On Tuesday night, February 22, Jaskaran Singh, a senior finance and economic major at the University of Texas at Austin, won the final round of the Jeopardy! national college championship.
Singh walks away with a grand prize of $250,000 after facing off against Liz Feltner of Northeastern University and Raymond Goslow of Kennesaw State.
Singh dominated the night and found all six Daily Doubles.
The tournament started with 36 students from 36 colleges and universities from across the country during nine days of competition.
Singh won the February 11 quarterfinals with a question about Ukraine and earned $19,900.
He then advanced from the semis to the final round on February 18, earning $24,000 total after betting — and winning — all of his $12,200 total at the end of the Double Jeopardy round.
The 22-year-old from Plano said he first applied to be on the popular trivia game show when he was 13, thanks to his mom. He didn’t make it then, but he applied again last year and has now taken the $250,000 grand prize.
Singh says he’s been interested in trivia since he was in high school. He was on the quiz bowl team and won the national championship then. He’s also on the UT Quiz Bowl team, which is competing in nationals this spring.
Although he’s well-versed in trivia, Singh says there were some tense moments while competing.
“There was one category with a series of clues for phrases that have three words that rhyme. My brain was not working in that moment. Just the experience of being in a TV studio and having lights bearing down on you, and makeup put on you, that sort of gets to you,” he told UT.
His interest in trivia follows him into the classroom as well, where he studies more than finance and economics.
“Now I’m taking just one computer-science class to finish out my minor, Russian, as an adjunct to my economics double major, and a bunch of history classes I’ve wanted to take,” he told UT, which turned its iconic UT Tower orange in recognition of Singh’s win.
First recorded in November, the Jeopardy! national college championship semifinals began airing on Thursday, February 17 and Singh appeared on the final round of the show show on Tuesday, February 22 on ABC.
Singh was one of two students from Texas universities who competed in the national college championship.
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